Life Goes On
by TheVulcanPrincess
Summary: This is my take on what might have happened on Mintaka III after the Enterprise left. It is set a few months after the episode Who Watches the Watchers.


Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek.

A/N: This takes place a few months after the events in the 3rd season episode "Who Watches the Watchers?".

* * *

It was the day of the winter solstice on Mintaka III. It was tradition for everyone to gather for the long night to review their history.

Nuria, the leader of the people, began, "On the eve of darkness, we meet together to tell our story. We have learned much and seen much this year. Let us be enriched as we share our knowledge. Oji, the keeper of the history, will present us with the reading."

Oji stood up, nervous. This was her first eve of darkness as the keeper of the history. She remembered as a child watching her mother read the history, and the sting of her mother's untimely death in the floods hit her again. She swallowed and walked over to the bonfire around which they were seated. She took a candle and touched it to the flame, lighting it.

She unfurled the scroll, cleared her throat and began, "When the light returned last year, our people were recovering from the great flood. Houses and crops were destroyed, and 47 of our people perished. They were our mothers and our fathers, our sisters and our brothers, our wives and our husbands. They were a part of us. But we rebuilt, and life goes on."

"When the spring came, we planted again. We put the wheat and the fruit and the vegetables in the ground. We tended them with care. We had to put in extra effort because there were fewer people to till the ground. Ajara gave birth to the first child born after the flood, and we received Kalor into our community, rejoicing that life goes on."

"In the summer, our tribe was thrown into chaos. The mountainside opened, and we found that we were being watched. Liko was injured when the mountain opened, and people from the stars rescued him and healed his wounds. When he returned, he told us of 'The Picard', and we thought he was the Overseer. We soon learned that he is a man, who bleeds as we do. We also learned that there are people on other worlds. Thus, throughout the universe, life goes on."

"The harvest time came, and we soon forgot the upheaval of summer. We reaped the wheat and the corn. We picked the fruit and the vegetables. We preserved food for winter, and we saved seeds for next spring. This food we enjoy ensures that life goes on."

Oji reached into her sack and distributed the corn cakes made for the occasion. The tribe took the cakes and said in unison, "Life goes on." They then ate the cake.

Oji walked to Liko, her father, and sat down. Liko whispered, "You did wonderfully."

"Thank you, Father."

* * *

Nuria chewed her corn and thought about how to address what she had to say. It was a large responsibility to dispense the information passed down through the ages, and it fell to her. She arose and began, "Friends, we have eaten this cake in the bonds of fellowship that we may never know hunger in the coming year."

Normally, at this point in the ceremony, she would end it with her blessing, and they would wait out the long night by simply spending time together as family and friends. It was a time-honored tradition that had been in place for centuries. Nuria knew that the time was right, though, and she began, "On this night of history telling, I have a story to share with you all. This story has been passed down from one tribal leader to the next, and it is to be shared when the people have reached a point in progression where they are ready to hear it. Based on the events of this summer, we are ready to hear it."

Nuria pulled scrolls out of her bag and unfurled them reverently. She held them high so that all could see the ancient looking script on them. "These scrolls are nearly 2,000 years old, and they tell of the origins of our people. Our ancestors were not always from this planet; there was a time when they walked the stars, just like our summer visitors."

There was a collective gasp from the villagers around the fire as they assimilated this new information. "Where did they come from?" "Why did they leave?" The villagers called out questions.

Nuria raised her hands to silence the people, and they once again regarded her with rapt attention. "Our ancestors once lived on a desert world. Then a great war broke out, over the right way to live. The majority wanted to live by a strict code of logic, leaving no room for emotion. Our forebears were in the minority, choosing emotion instead, and so they left."

"They traveled the stars for years, looking for a new home. There began to be factions again, fighting over logic and emotion. Our ancestors believed the two could be integrated, but the majority saw logic as stifling. The group arrived on this world at the height of this new conflict. Survey parties began scouting the area to determine if it would be a good place to settle."

"Two leaders, Mintak and Norek had a disagreement about this world. Mintak was weary of the journey, and saw that the world was filled with water, had good soil, and would be a fine place to start a new civilization. He was also the leader of the faction dedicated to integrating logic and emotion. Norek was the leader of the larger emotion-only faction, and he wanted a planet with more minerals to trade with other worlds."

"Norek and his followers devised a plan to end the disagreement. They identified all of Mintak's followers, and they threw a celebration. Norek made sure that all of Mintak's followers became intoxicated. When they were unconscious, Norek transported them to the surface of the planet, leaving them with nothing but the clothes on their backs, and a few bags of seeds to begin planting. Mintak awoke in time to see the last of Norek's people leave. We do not know where they went."

"There were 30 families. They had knowledge of the stars, but through the generations, this knowledge was lost. The last of Mintak's original group wrote the history down on this scroll. The instructions were to share it with the people when they once again began to wonder about the stars."

"The first years on this world were difficult, but our ancestors persevered. They knew that even in times such as this, life goes on."


End file.
